A REFRESHING alternative to the never-ending stream of autobiographies, this is a book worthy of any sports fan’s book shelf.

It’s an easy read and free of legal jargon, as lawyer Ian Hewitt recalls 101 sporting skirmishes that led to court appearances or tribunals.

Some are sport’s JFK/Diana moments – few motor-racing fans, for instance, will have forgotten where they were when the news filtered through that Ayrton Senna had died. Fifteen years on, we are no clearer about the cause of his death. Other cases have been less well-documented and some amusingly eccentric such as the Middlesex wife who successfully petitioned for divorce citing golf as her husband’s mistress.

The book encompasses a broad range of sports and, as well as concerning itself with 19th century issues such as bare-knuckle fighting, gives strong coverage to recently-heard cases with Dwain Chambers’ failed bid to overturn an Olympic ban included.

Each different story is kept succinct with for-and-against arguments where appropriate.

All are very informative as well – how many people know that the murderer who fired 12 bullets at Colombia’s 1994 World Cup fall- guy Andres Escobar has been a free man for four years now?